Olympic Qualifiers Part 1
Team Canada 2019
As our very busy summer with Team Canada volleyball comes to a close, I have to pause and write down some of my reflections. We had a lot of ups and downs (mostly ups!) as we navigated throughout all the important tournaments this summer with an entirely new coaching staff. Here I recap what the summer looked like and where we are now!
Life unexpected
If you’ve been following along, you know that Tj (Team Canada Olympic setter) was not able to participate in this past World Championships due to an injury. In this article he dives further in to what that really looked like and the shock and disappointment that he would have no choice but to deal with head on. However, his story does not stop there.
#GiveFive
Daily-Dose Of Inspiration
This 2018 summer with the National Team was a tough one for me personally; a lot of injuries and a lot of daily battles. Before traveling to Japan for World Championships I came back to the Sunshine Coast during our one day off to attend a “GRL POWER” event focusing on inspiring young females from all the elementary schools to be positive ambassadors in sport. My goal was to inspire them but it turns out they inspired me just the same.
Euro Tour
Team Canada jetted off on our first European tour this past August to play in some exhibition matches against the Turkish, Bulgarian, and German National Teams. We were gone for a total of three weeks; one week in Istanbul, Turkey and two weeks in Rimini, Italy. A tough trip overall with a heavy training and match schedule, but we took major steps forward as a team and now have total confidence heading into World Championships in Japan.
Summer at a glance
This summer (2017) with our Canadian Women’s Volleyball Team we not only had some change, we had the most change ever deemed possible. Can I go as far as saying the most change that this program has ever seen at any given time? 2017 was the start of our four-year cycle, a quadrennial, or the first step in a four year-process to qualify for the (Tokyo 2020) Olympics.
Summer...Commence!
It’s crazy to me that a professional season can seem like it’s crawling by when you're in the moment… but looking back it can be fully described in a few short sentences when you’re home. How was your season this year? “It was good – started off in Italy but switched to a German team in January due to some financial issues with the club. But yeah, it was good!”
World Championships
Alrighty then – World Championships recap time! It’s a little delayed but I hope you pardon all my excuses which include running around Italy with my parents, getting settled into my new club in Urbino, and then coming back to Canada to get my visa (but more on that later). World Championships was again (and of course) a wonderful experience.
Prep-week in Maribor, Slovenia
Ready, set… on the road again! Back to the extremely long trips to the other side of the pond. Sleep deprivation, questionable amounts of legroom, and multiple Starbucks while it’s still around: we’re getting used to it. After Grand Prix we had a few weeks off to regroup and refocus at home with family and friends.
Week 3 - Buenes Aires, Argentina
And just like that, Grand Prix (and our break) is over! It seems like so long ago when we first touched down in Lima, Peru to start this crazy adventure. Leaving Winnipeg I didn’t feel totally prepared and I actually thought the past three weeks were going to be a lot more difficult than they actually were. I assumed the jet lag would be unbearable (and it was a few times… but flying from South America to Europe back to South America s
Week 2 - Leuven, Belgium
We definitely had a much more successful weekend in Leuven, Belgium. Many girls had only been to Europe once or twice before so everyone was pretty excited to mix up the travel itinerary. The flight from Lima to Madrid was as good as it could be; somehow Brittney and I scored the exit row and Byron smuggles us a few pills that we took without question. Bliss. We woke up in Madrid, had a quick layover, and then departed to Belgium.
Grand Prix - Week 1 | Lima, Peru
Week 1 of Grand Prix complete. It wasn’t the result we were hoping for but we definitely gained a lot of valuable experience this past week. We arrived in Lima, Peru on (last) Monday evening and went straight to our hotel. The flight was going to be ok – it was only an 8hour flight (most of us have dealt with longer) but unfortunately no individual TV’s were provided. Good seats are always a dog fight to get, especially traveling with 14 VERY tall women, and an extremely tall coaching staff.
Grand Prix - July 21 starting in Peru!
The Grand Prix takes place from July 21 - August 23, 2014. 28 countries from across the world will be competing in this year's Grand Prix, which is the first time this tournament will be featuring that many teams. During the Intercontinental Round, Pools A to O will play matches in three stand-along tournaments, for a total of 9 matches per team